Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-01-23
DunfcrmIine Abbey and palace.


About Dunfermhnc may still be ina
gined an air of royal dignity rs It's
spires and towers are deserted rising
from a rich border of woods and plan
tations There We may still find a
fragment Of MalcOlm's royal tower,
the last remnant OF the ancient palace
where he received the fugitive Saxon
Princess, whom he welded in some early
church hard by. 70 Margarcts infiu-
ence was due the founding of the stately
Abbey close TO the Royal Palace,
which Malcolm endowed with fond mu-
nifconce He was but rude Highland
chieftainafter all. Ii his early days had
been passed in the Court of the Comics
sor he had profited little by his oppor-
tunitios Of culture, for he could not read,
and was content to kiss the fair iIlumi-
mated volume in which his wife took
such delight. We hear nothing but good
of Margaret, of her cody life, and her
sorowiul death. The love and compass
sion of generations have followed this
sanity fgure-a faint wait OF the sweet
ness of her character seems to hnger
about the places she inhabited.
Everywhere hercabouts are ruins, the
mere shells and husks of the royal
dwcllng-placcs-here on wooded
mound the tower Of Malcolm; there,
ovorlianginc the ravine, broken wall
Of tie Palace Of the Stewards. with
mulicncd windows and graceful open
inos all oycrgroWn and dismantled.
The ROYAL Palace was originally but n
wing. as il were, OF a great religious
establishment, the Scottish Escurill-
palace, monastery. mausO!eum. Dun
cans body. as Shakespeare tells u, was
taken to the old buial-place OF the
royal line at iona
Cerried 10 Colm-kul.
The sacred storehousc Of his predecessors,
AND guardian Of thc!r bones.
Fut Malcolm. the son of Duncan, was
buried 10y the high altar OF the Abbey
he had founded-he and his slintly
queen in the same grave. no doubt, for
Margaret hardly survived the news of
the death of her husband and son, slain
by the walls of Alnwick Castle. About
them were reared the tombs Of descend
ants and successors, seven other kings,
five other queens, all remembered daily
in the services Of the Abbey. while the
altar light shone steadily above them
day and night. till it was quenched at
last in the cold dawn Of the Calvini,tic
Reformation.
Tie nave Of the old abbey church Is
still in evidence, with traces Of fine, sol
omn Norman work in solid piers and
arches hut the chancel and trlnsepts,
and all the marble tombs OF Kings and
Queens had disappeared long before
the building Of the new and handsome
church and tower the newness of which
half a century's wind and rain hls
toned down. and which hlrnouizas It
ter than might be expected with tha
ancient stem.
1t was in preparing the foundations
OF the new church that the bones of
Robert Bruce were dsinterred. The
marble tomb had been buried beneath
accumulated rubbish, and below was
found the skeleton of tall man, with
fragments of the cloth of gold that had
formed his winding-sheet. \ further
proof that these were indeed the bones
of the great Bruce was the mark of
the saw where the breastbone had
been cut away 10 remove the
heart of the great King, which
Douglas was charged TO carry TO
the holy Land. Walter Scott records
how all the people of the neighborhood
flockcd to see the remains 50 that the
church could not hold half the mum
bers, and the people passed through III
long professions, the body thus lying
in state more than five centuries after
its first interment Many people
she'd tears, writes Sir Walter. And
yet generations had gone by, few indl-
viduals of which cared n rush for Ro-
bert Bruce, while none had raised Il
finger to save his tomb from dcSecra-
ton. The bones of Bruce were re-
inferred with ali respect.
The Palace of Dunfermhne was oc-
cupied by the Stuart Kings down to the
time OF the union Of the crowns of the
two kingdoms. Charles the First was
born within these ruined walls; a peev-
ish child, who annoyed his honest
father 10y his ceaseless cries. One night
there Was a great disturbance III the
royal nursery, and the royal father, dis
turbed from his peaceful slumbers, hur-
RED TO the scene. AN auld man came
into the room and threw his cloak owre
the princes cradle" explained the ter
rified nurse. ''Fient, nor he had taken
the girning brat clean ava" cried the
irritated parent, although it is hardly
fair to report his hasty words under
such provOcation. "Gin he ever be
King theren be nae guide in his ring
The dell has cussen his cloak owre him
already" Assuredly it was not the
shade of Bruce who had.cast his mantle
over the young Prince.
An Apes Shrewdness.
pittsburgh Commercial Gazettel
There are on the coast Of Java pc